We’re all familiar with the phrase “It’s not what you know, but who you know” when talking about job hunting. In many (maybe even most) cases, people get jobs based on knowing someone in the organization, having someone with influence speaking for them.
But a word of advice (at least when it comes to large organizations) – no matter who you know, your resume still matters. Do not neglect your resume. I recently made a hire, a hire based very much on a “who you know” situation, and yet, the candidate almost did not get the job because his resume could not make it out of our HR system.

Let me explain. My department had a position open. We had interviewed two people and were not super excited about either. College norms say we need to hire at least three people, so we were looking for a third person to interview. Enter my candidate.
He was a former student employee in our department. He was interested in the position and qualified. However, our recruitment at the time was limited to current employees only. Based on a (unanimous) staff vote, we opened the position to non-employees specifically so this candidate could apply.
Then, due to some staff vacations and tight timelines, we set up an interview for this candidate the day the position officially closed, without ever having gotten his resume through our automated hiring system. (We only get resumes on the day the position closes.)
We had the interview. I will be honest. It was not a great interview, but it also was not awful. It certainly was not worse than the previous interviews we had done for the same position. And I was willing to give this candidate some leeway as this will be his first post college graduation position. He has only ever been a student employee or intern, so he does not have a lot of practice at interviewing.
After the interview, the hiring team sat down to make our final decision. We chose the candidate, based, honestly, more on the excitement of the rest of the staff to bringing this person on board than the actual interview. (Please note, I am not saying the candidate is not qualified or cannot do the work. He is, and I believe he can. But if the rest of the staff had not been excited about working with him again, his interview was not good enough for me to have been excited about making the job offer.)
I contacted him and got his references- two former employees of my department (including my predecessor) who were both very complimentary and thought very highly of the candidate.

Then, the resumes got pushed through our HR system. His was not among them. I contacted my HR person, saying, I know this person applied, why don’t I have his resume.
My HR person said he had gone through all the resumes and sent me anyone with any scheduling or academic experience at all. I responded that based on academic experience, I knew this person qualified because he had worked for our department for two years as a student. My HR went back and reviewed his resume again.
And still, based on what was submitted into our system and the fact that this was a union position, he could not forward the candidate on to me, because the experience was just not reflected in the resume.
This left me with a candidate my staff very much wanted to have hired, that I absolutely could not hire, because he could not make it past our HR screens.

Again, this candidate was lucky. Because my staff (and, I should add, faculty) all liked the candidate, I went back to my HR representative to ask what we could do. And my HR representative, knowing that our college has a bias toward employing our own graduates, agreed to give my candidate a second chance.
He would have the opportunity to go back into our hiring system and update his resume and the rep would then re-review it- all this despite the fact that the position was now closed. My HR rep even gave me some general guidelines about what needed to make it on the resume.
I then contacted the candidate and told him, in general terms, what the situation was. I explained that I knew he had the needed experience from our conversations and from his previous job duties with the department. I made very specific recommendations for what needed to go in the resume.

In the end, the candidate updated his resume. My HR rep approved the new resume, and I was able to make the hire.

Did who this candidate knew make a difference? Absolutely. In every step of the process, from being even being able to apply to the job all the way to the moment I was able to officially make an offer. He never would have gotten anywhere without WHO he knew.
At the same time, his resume MATTERED. Mattered to the point that without people really willing to go to bat for him, he would not have gotten the job. Without knowing people in the department, I would never have even known he had applied.

Congratulations! You have landed an interview, an in-person, go and meet people face to face interview. This is exciting! It can also be incredibly nerve wracking. Below are a list of tips that can help you make it through the process. It is not exhaustive, as that would be a way longer post than I want to write, let alone what anyone wants to read. But hopefully these will help.

If they give you a choice of days or times, pick the one that works best for you. I know of no studies that say it’s better to be the first or last or whatever person interviewed (and you really have no idea if other people were offered other times, anyway), so don’t worry about that. Pick the time that honestly works best for you, because your chances of getting the job are always better if you’re not running late/stressed/worried about how long it will take.

Know how you’re going to get there and how long it will take. Think about the time of day you’ll be traveling. Print out your directions the night before.  Allow extra time for getting lost, finding parking, or that random accident on the freeway.

Know what you are wearing. Choose your outfit carefully the night before, allowing for time to do any last minute laundering needed. If it’s the first time you would wear that outfit, try it on, make sure it looks the way you want it to.

Dress for the company. I don’t care if you are applying for a job as a mail clerk, if the office dress code is business professional, show up in a suit and tie. At the same time, if you’re applying for the COO position at an internet start-up founded by an early 20s college drop-out, you may want to lean more toward the business casual side of things.

Dress for the job. Most companies now a days are business casual. If you’re applying for an hourly position, you should be able to interview in business casual dress (though don’t lean too heavily on the casual side). However, if you’re applying for a salaried position, lean more toward business. The higher level the position, the further on the business side you should be.

Sometimes how you dress should be based on the division of the organization you are applying to. Sales guys will typically dress differently than IT staff. An example from my own life, people at the School of Medicine dress differently than those in the College of Engineering, despite both being part of the same University.

Be polite and friendly to all support staff (receptionists, security guards, admins). Being rude to any of these people can easily cost you the job, no matter how much you hit it off with the person actually interviewing you.

Make intelligent eye contact. If you are interviewing with only one person, don’t make them feel like you are staring. Take time to blink, or glance around your surroundings. If you are interviewing with a panel, focus most of your eye contact on the person who asked the question, but make sure to look around the room, at all members of the panel, at least once per question. (Their body language will be able to tell you a lot.)

Pay attention to your body language. Try not to fidget, but if you’re a fidget-er, try to do so intelligently – lean forward when being asked a question, lean back when considering your answer, sit up when giving your answer. Try not to cross your arms (this is the toughest thing for me), as it makes you seem closed off. Doodle or take pretend notes to give your hands/arms something to do that isn’t being crossed in front of you.

Take actual notes. Many questions, especially in “behavioral” interviews have multiple parts. Don’t expect to be able to remember the 4^th part after having answered the first 3. Jot them down, double check to make sure you have all the parts right in your notes before you start answering.

Notes can also help you keep your answers on point and make sure you don’t leave something out. I know a number of brilliant people who can tangent off anything. Jotting down a couple of quick notes before they start answering a question can help them stay on track.

Know your answers to standard interview questions. Know why you want to work for that company/in that department. Have stories prepared regarding times when you had difficulty with a co-worker, what your greatest accomplishments were, a time when you felt you failed (and what you learned from it).

Do NOT try to game the questions. If you are asked for what you think your biggest weakness is, don’t try to present your weakness as a strength. No one is perfect. Hiring managers know this. They need staff members who are aware of their own weaknesses, and they need to be aware of those weaknesses, as well.  Now, no one wants to talk about what they are bad at in an interview, I get that, but self-awareness goes a long way. Talk honestly about your weaknesses, then follow that up with the skills you have learned to mitigate those weaknesses. That shows the hiring manager you’re honest about your abilities and also able to be proactive.

Take a moment before answering questions. Even if it is a question you have answered a million times or have prepared the perfect answer for, don’t start talking the second the last syllable has left the interviewer’s mouth. Take a breath, show that you’re considering the question, and then try to speak slowly and evenly.

Know what questions you want to ask. And yes, you MUST ask questions when given the chance. You can have a few basic ones of your own prepared. I always like to ask what the interviewer hopes to the person in the position they are hiring for will accomplish in the first six months to a year. If a lot of the interview has hinged on what the last person did (and you get the feeling that maybe it wasn’t enough) change the question to say “forgetting about what has been done in the past, in your ideal world, what would this position do”. Another favorite of mine is to ask people what their favorite thing about working for that company (or in that department) is.

Ask about timelines and next steps. If at all possible, never leave an interview not knowing what should be happening next and when it should be happening. Sometimes those answers will be vague, but at least you have an idea. Knowing timelines gives you more power, especially if you are interviewing for multiple positions.

Follow up with a thank you note. Yes, a thank you note. Alright, if after the interview you realize you really don’t want the job, you can skip the thank you note. But otherwise, take the time to write a few words in an email to the folks you interviewed with. Say you enjoyed meeting them and learning more about the position/department/company. Mention one thing in particular that you are interested in/excited about. Tell them you hope to be hearing from them again about [next step] or in [timeline]. And always end it by saying you are available for any additional questions should they have any. Make sure your contact information is in that thank you note.